Upstate NY in September

Suarez!!!

Their spot is beautiful, the beer is incredible, and the releases have little fuss.

 

X2, add Sloop as they are only a few minutes from Suarez.

 

+1 to Suarez for sure. That would be my number one spot on the list

 

Keep in mind that Hunter is in Greene County (west of Hudson River), whereas many of the breweries mentioned above are east of the River (Columbia County, Rensselaer Co., et al). There are bridges, of course, but you should take note of where they are, as you make your plans.

 

I've been to these 5.

Mill House, Roots and Newburgh are all great places that serve decent beers and food, but these are all pretty far from Hunter and there are better places that are closer. I have a real soft spot for Roots since I had the best grilled cheese I've ever had there, but I don't remember much about the beers.

Equilibrium is probably making the best hazy IPAs in the area outside of NYC, but they don't have a taproom yet so that's a pretty obvious skip.

Hudson Valley are worth the trip if you're into sours and sour IPAs. They do that style very well.

Also, I would just +1 what everyone else said and just do Sloop and Suarez.

@IGaveYouPower and @cavedave probably have some good advice too.

 

West Kill Brewing is one town west of Hunter. Cool spot and nice beers. That should be first on your list in terms of accessibility.

 

My wife tried their creeping thyme saisson at brunch today in Albany... she said it wasn't thyme-y enough !! Umm, ok, lady, whatever you say. That was the only West Kill on the menu, I don't care for spiced beer but I hope to try some other styles from them.


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Also for the OP: there is Crossroads Brewing, now with 2 locations in Greene County: Athens and Catskill. That's about a 1/2 drive from Hunter, I think. The Athens location is a full-service restaurant/brewpub, w/ excellent food. The Catskill location is production brewery w/ taproom.

 

West Kill is flat-out incredible. That should absolutely be stop no. 1. Phenomenal IPAs and sours, a great porter, great pilsners, they do it all well. And they've got a very nice taproom at the foot of the mountain.

Of the others you mentioned:

1) To echo others, yes, Suarez and Sloop should be must-stops. They're doing very different things but both very well and I don't think I'd get much opposition in saying that if you're looking for lower-ABV, flavorful-as-you-can-imagine farmhouse ales, nobody in the country is doing it better than Suarez right now. Least not that I'm aware of.

2) Hudson Valley and Newburgh. Hudson Valley is putting out unique sour IPAs that nobody else is really touching as well as super creative fruited sours. Definitely more than worth your time. Newburgh covers a bit wider range of styles but they do a lot well. Good IPAs, good farmhouse ales, a nice cream ale, an imperial milk stout, etc. Their taproom is fuckin' huge and beautiful and overlooks the Hudson.

3) If you come all the way up to Albany, Rare Form and Browns are the two to hit. Rare Form does a lot of styles (they have two IPAs, a cream ale, an india cream ale, an altbier, a brown and a pils on right now just as an example) and a lot of them are very good but nothing that'll blow you away. Browns, though, has come out of nowhere in the last two years or so with one of the best sour programs around and some very impressive IPAs and pales. Good food there too.

Millhouse and Druthers are very similar; great food, pretty good beer and taprooms where the restaurant is more the focal point than the bar. Nothing you'd go out of your way for.

Haven't been to 2 Way, Roots or Hunter Mountain.

Equilibrium, as was mentioned, doesn't have a taproom right now so don't bother.

New Paltz is also an option w/ Bacchus and Arrowood Farms' outpost. Bacchus is great, but the danger there is they may only have a couple of their own beers on at a time depending on what they have brewed. The rest of their list, though, always has great beer on it. Hill Farmstead, Equilibrium, Finback, etc. Haven't had Arrowood's beer but have heard good things.

 

I wouldn't make 2 Way a stop...nothing special imo.

 

From one North Carolinian to another....I’ll give yet another vote to both Suarez and Sloop. Just got back with a cooler load from both. My girlfriend’s family lives in Columbia county (east side of river across from Hunter) and we frequent those when in town. Sloop’s new location may be open by the time you go, but the Elizaville farm location is so nice. I’ll also second the vote for Crossroads in Athens. You can even ferry across the river into downtown Hudson from just across the street of Crossroads and hit up the Hudson Brewing Company right behind the train station (only if you have ample time, it’s not really that spectacular compared to all of your other possibilities). I also really like going a little further east to Chatham Brewing. Lastly, if you can swing by Hudson Valley, do it! But if people with you can’t do sours then give them a heads up. Have a great trip!!

 

I have to admit, as a lifelong Upstater, I find it pretty cool that, thanks to beer, people all over the country are developing a familiarity with other parts of the state besides just NYC ! This, after years of trying to get people to believe that, yes, NY actually does have more cows than skyscrapers.

 

Suarez and Sloop. They're such great compliments to each other.

 

Having spent most of the last decade living in downtown Manhattan I think Captain Lawrence deserves a lot of credit for putting upstate NY on the map, even if they’re not hot anymore

 

In absolutely no way, shape or form is Captain Lawrence 'upstate.' It's in Westchester county!

 

Anything over the Throgs Neck is upstate. End of discussion.

 

Yeah was a joke. How people in NYC consider upstate to be anything north of the city (or even north of certain streets haha)